If you have any interesting facts and achievements related to geospatial technology or applications of geospatial technology to your specialized study area, please contact us. You may email your stories to

Dr. Sunil Bhaskaran (Sunil.Bhaskaran@bcc.cuny.edu) with a copy to Ms. Maribel Donado (Maribel.Donado@bcc.cuny.edu).

Office of Communication & Marketing | 9.7.2011

GEOSPATIALJuly 2011 Issue No. 3

N E W S L E T T E R

Editor: Dr. Sunil Bhaskaran Sunil.Bhaskaran@bcc.cuny.edu

Associate Editor: Prof. Neal Phillip Neal.Phillip@bcc.cuny.edu

Circulation Manager: Ms. Maribel DonadoMaribel.Donado@bcc.cuny.edu

THE GEOSPATIAL MOVEMENT AT BCC! Welcome to the third edition of the Geospatial Newsletter! We are delighted to welcome the new president of BCC,

Dr. Carole Berotte Joseph. Geospatial Newsletter reports

on all activities related to geospatial sciences at BCC and

each issue covers three to four months of activities (e.g.,

this issue covers activities from June to August 2011).

Under the guidance and constant encouragement of

Senior Vice President George Sanchez, since August 2010,

the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technology

has taken the lead in bringing geospatial awareness to

BCC. This was achieved over a period of time by delivering

information sessions, workshops for students and faculty,

international speakers programs, international research

collaborations, and publications in peer-reviewed journals.

All these efforts, since August 2010, have brought the

concept and applications of geospatial technology to

students and faculty at BCC. Efforts from the past three

to four months have led to a potential MOU that is ready

to be signed off between the federally funded NOAA-

CREST ($7.5 Million) and BCC. Under the stewardship

of Dr. George Sanchez, Prof. Neal Phillip (chair of the

Chemistry Department), and Dr. Sunil Bhaskaran, BCC

is now well poised to form a Geospatial Center that will

cater to teaching, training and supervised research in

geospatial technology. This will pave the way for new

career opportunities, internships with federal and private

agencies, and advanced research in geospatial technology

and allied fields. We are delighted to share the following

list of events and most recent developments in geospatial

technology at BCC. All newsletters may be accessed at the

Chemistry and Chemical Technology website (www.bcc.cuny.edu/chemistry/?page=SpatialTechnology).

1. CUNY Grant Awarded

Professor Neal Phillip (chair of the

Chemistry Department) was recently

awarded a grant by the CUNY Vice

Chancellor’s Office of Research. The

grant will facilitate the purchase of a

major instrument, a Picarro Greenhouse

Gas Monitor. The instrument is capable

of measuring three greenhouse gases—

carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapor (H

2O),

and methane (CH4)—at trace levels. It is

being proposed to house the greenhouse

gas monitoring system in the defunct NYU

weather station room that sits on the roof

of BCC’s Meister Hall.

Figure 1. Greenhouse Gas Monitor

Figure 2. Defunct NYU Weather Station

My name is Julissa Lora. I was born in the Dominican Republic and I am currently living in New York City. I graduated from Bronx Community College (BCC) with an associate degree in earth systems and environmental science. In 2007, I set my heart on getting a college degree and registered at BCC. I said, “If college is where you grow as a person, I should be able to really find what I want to do.” Throughout the fall 2009 semester I took an Environmental Health course and it changed my life! I discovered I had a passion for the Earth and our environment and the science behind it. After putting everything in perspective, I chose the Liberal Arts and Sciences (Earth Systems and Environment Sciences Option) program. As of right now, I plan to complete my bachelor’s degree. I plan to major in environmental science with a minor in sociology, and then go to grad school. Attaining a Ph.D. has always been my ultimate educational goal. I want to be a scientist specializing in climate change, combining my passion for the human environment with the welfare of society.

Under the advisement of one of my earth science professors, Dr. Neal Phillip, in February 2010, I applied to the GeoScience Research at Storm Peak (GRASP) Program. I was one of nine students accepted from all over the country. GRASP is a year-long program that provides field research experience for a diverse group of undergraduate students. It is funded by the National Science Foundation’s Opportunity for Enhancing Diversity in GeoScience Program. For this research program, I traveled to Storm Peak Laboratory in Colorado to measure cloud properties and trace gases in the atmosphere. As part of the program my team and I monitored and observed “Local Pollution at Storm Peak” and presented our findings at Howard University in Washington, D.C., in November 2010. During the summer, I also participated in the Bronx Community College and York College paid internship program in the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. I was assigned to work with the marine science section, assisting professionals with sampling preparation and analyzing various water samples around the five boroughs of NYC.

This summer, I was nominated by the Storm Peak Laboratory director, Dr. Gannet Hallar, to take part in the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s Undergraduate Leadership Workshop of 2011. The workshop took place in Boulder, Colorado, this past June 13 to 17. The five-day program allowed me to get to know other science students and research scientists. There were about 19 other student representatives from the best schools in the world, and I was there very proudly representing Bronx Community College and CUNY. We explored the laboratories, instrumentation, and computing facilities that specialized in weather, climate change, solar dynamics, the Sun-Earth system, and the impacts of severe weather and climate change on societies around the world. Also, I gained valuable information about graduate and postdoctoral studies. But perhaps one of the most important factors of the workshop was the insight into the many ways scientists serve as leaders. During the fall 2011 semester, I would like to give a seminar at both Lehman College (my future college) and Bronx Community College to describe my experiences—and to get other students as interested in atmospheric science research as I am.

Respectfully, Julissa Lora BCC Graduate 2011

Student Julissa Lora Presented Testimony to the CUNY Board of Trustees

Dear Board of Trustees:

Pictured (L-R) are Dr. Sunil Bhaskaran, Professor Neal Phillip, Professor Reza Khanbilvardi, Professor Reid Strieby, and Dr. Shakila Merchant at the NOAA-CREST Office at The City College of New YorK.

(L-R) Karolyn Jiminez and Kaba Aboubaker at the Geospatial Laboratory at BCC. They are being supervised on a project that uses

time-series satellite and geospatial data.

2. Global Initiative

Our global initiative is designed to bring BCC achievements

(by both faculty and students) to international institutions

and audiences through interactive research collaboration

or curriculum development, student exchanges, and peer-

reviewed publications by faculty.

In April 2011, Dr. George Sanchez, senior vice president

at BCC, approved a grant for Dr. Sunil Bhaskaran of the

Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technology

to carry forward the mission of the global initiative.

Since August 2010, Dr. Bhaskaran has been conducting

research with institutions in India, which has resulted in

the formation of an International Speaker’s program,

several peer-reviewed publications, and grant proposal

submissions. Since 2010, several efforts were initiated to

develop an MOU with international institutions such as

Jamia Milia Islamia University (JMIU) in India. In May 2011,

the vice chancellor of JMIU, Professor Najib Jung, invited

SVP George Sanchez to provide a draft for a potential

MOU between BCC and JMIU. This MOU is waiting for

approval from the SVP’s office. BCC students will vastly

benefit from this MOU since they will have opportunities

to work on international research projects involving two

great universities. In this context, Dr. Sunil Bhaskaran has

been invited to deliver a series of lectures and research

collaborations by the following institutes:

a) The Centre for Studies in Resources Engineering,

Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai (August 8,

2011)

b) Department of Geography, Jamia Milia Islamia

University, New Delhi (August 9, 2011)

c) School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru

University, New Delhi (August 10, 2011)

d) Department of Natural Resources, The Energy and

Research Institute (TERI), New Delhi (August 11, 2011)

e) Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of

Science, Bangalore (August 16, 2011)

f) Department of Geography, Bangalore University

(August 18, 2011)

3. Potential Opportunities with Criminal Justice

Dr. Bhaskaran held a meeting with Dr. Michael Roggow

(Criminal Justice Program) to discuss potential

opportunities for teaching, training, and applying

geospatial technology in the Criminal Justice Program.

4. Lectures on Geospatial Applications

Dr. Bhaskaran was invited by the University of Redlands

in California to deliver a series of lectures on geospatial

applications:

• New Techniques for Mapping and Modeling the Urban

Environment: Research presentation to faculty and

students on June 14

• Basics of GIS and Remote Sensing: Teaching

presentation to faculty and students on June 13

5. Geospatial Technology Presentation

Professor James Freeman (Criminal Justice) organized a

presentation on Applications of Geospatial Technology in

Criminal Justice at BCC. The workshop was delivered by

Ms. Megan, an adjunct faculty member.

6. Discussions with NOAA-CREST

A delegation from BCC—led by Professor Neal Phillip and

members of the BCC faculty (Professor Reid Strieby and

Dr. Sunil Bhaskaran)—met with the director of NOAA-

CREST, Professor Reza Khanbilvardi. The group held

discussions with NOAA-CREST members in June 2011 at

The City College of New York. The follow-up meeting was

organized to discuss potential components of an MOU

between BCC and NOAA-CREST. NOAA-CREST is a federal

government funded educational and research consortium

in which BCC is a collaborative member. By virtue of this

MOU, BCC will receive access to all facilities at NOAA-

CREST, including satellite and GIS data. The MOU will

provide a tremendous boost to the ongoing efforts at BCC

to form a Geospatial Center. A draft version of a potential

MOU between BCC and NOAA-CREST was presented to

SVP George Sanchez by Professor Neal Phillip and Dr.

Sunil Bhaskaran.

7. Workshop on GPS

Professor Neal Phillip delivered a workshop on GPS at

York College. This workshop is funded by the PECASE/NSF

grant.

8. Student Activities and News

• Julissa Lora presented testimony on her research

activities at the CUNY Board of Trustees Public

Hearing at Hostos Community College on June 20,

2011. An excerpt from her written testimony is on the

following page.

• Two students (Karolyn Jiminez and Kaba

Aboubaker) from the Environmental Sciences course

(ENV 11) are currently being trained in applications

of satellite data for environmental applications.

Currently, the students are creating a library of

satellite data. In the second phase the data will be

assessed for their quality, and image processing

techniques will be used to prepare the data for

analysis.

9. Grant Applications Submitted

Dr. Sunil Bhaskaran submitted a grant proposal to

the U.S. Army through the Office of Research and

Grants: Innovative Techniques for Rapid Mapping

from Multi-sensor Data and Preparing Students from

Underrepresented Populations in Imaging Spectroscopy

(U.S. Army Department of Defense).

10. Recent Publications by Faculty, Students, and Staff

• Sunil Bhaskaran. “Feature Extraction of Urban

Objects from Very High Resolution (VHR) Satellite

Data over New York City.” International Symposium

on Environmental Protection and Planning (ISEPP):

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote

Sensing (RS) Applications, June 28-29, 2011, Izmir,

Turkey. http://www.cevkorconferences.com/

(Abstract accepted.)

• Javed Mallick, Atiqur Rahman, Maik Netzband,

and Sunil Bhaskaran. “Thermal Satellite Data for

Assessment and Monitoring of Surface Temperature

Changes and Its Impact on Micro-climate of Delhi.”

Urbanization and Global Environmental Change,

UGEC Viewpoints, International Human Dimensions

Programme (IHDP) on Global Climate Change,

Arizona State University, USA (Accepted.)